Beyonce and JAY Z's Property Taxes Are So High, They Boggle the Mind

Case in point: According to the Los Angeles Times, which analyzed more than 2.4 million assessor records in the area, Beyoncé and JAY Z reportedly owe $1.05 million per year in property taxes alone on their Bel Air mansion.

Granted, these music moguls bought this 30,000-square-foot, eight-bedroom, 11-bath estate on 2 acres in 2017 for a whopping $88 million. With a purchase price this high, is $1 million in property taxes all that shocking? It's certainly not an area outlier by any means. In fact, the Times article featured a total of 11 L.A. homes with property taxes above the $1 million mark, with this superstar couple's home coming in at No. 8.

Meanwhile, the nearby 20,000-square-foot former Playboy mansion in Holmby Hills has even higher property taxes ($1.22 million), and the highest property taxes of all ($1.36 million) belongs to a 38,000-square-foot, 12-bedroom, 21-bath manse owned by real estate entrepreneur Bruce Makowsky.

Overall, California homeowners pay $1,450.91 per capita in taxes per year—which is a far cry from a million-plus. Nonetheless, JAY Z and Beyoncé's property taxes do contain some pearls of wisdom for us regular folks, and how to avoid a similar fate come tax time.

While home buyers often obsess over the price they pay for a house, they often forget to factor in (at least initially) property taxes. And since property taxes are often folded into mortgage payments, it's not always clear how much people owe, or how property taxes are calculated at all.

For instance, while many assume property tax is based on a home's market value, it's actually derived on a different figure: a home's assessed value.

“Many people don't realize that the assessed value on which property tax is calculated is typically not the same as the market value of the property," explains Andrew Latham, managing editor of Supermoney.com. "Generally, the assessed value is lower, which is a good thing for property owners.

"However, that's not the case with Beyoncé and JAY Z," he adds. "If you check the L.A. County Assessor Portal, you can see that JAY Z and Beyoncé's property is assessed at $89.8 million, which is the purchase price plus 2%."

Essentially, Beyoncé and JAY Z may have gotten a deal, relatively speaking, buying the house for $88 million, but they're paying taxes on $89.9 million.

Ref: Property Report